Increasingly, Capital Region Language Center works with employers to improve workplace communication. From weekly online classes to afternoon workshops, companies recognize that strong English language skills are key to growth, efficiency and employee retention.
Powerful Statistics
Some powerful statistics support what we hear from business leaders:
- Management consulting firm McKinsey reports that companies that build effective communication across an organization outperform competitors by 3.5 times.
- The US Chamber of Commerce says developing bilingual employees by workplace language classes bottom line, ROI, and performance.
- Forbes research shows more than 40% of workers experience a decline in trust towards leadership and their team when communication is lacking. This is especially true for remote workers, where over half (54% leadership, 52% team) reported a trust gap due to communication issues.
- This supports researchers at MIT Sloan, who report employees who trust their organization are a staggering 260% more motivated to work. These organizations also see a 41% lower turnover rates, and are 40% more productive.
We are working with supervisors at Market 32/Price Chopper’s distribution center, teaching Spanish, so they can recruit and better communicate with teammates.
Covid Causes Growing Demand for Communication Training
Since COVID, there has been growing demand for training that sharpens employee communication skills. And as a New York State Certified Woman-Owned Business (WBE), we can often partner on workforce development grants.
Improving Workplace Communication
- Effective emailing
- Grammar and mechanics review
- Composition: clear, concise writing
- Professional phone etiquette
- Public speaking and presentation skills
- Communication techniques
World Language and Culture Customized Training
- Spanish for health care or human resources professionals
- English/Spanish for construction, security, law enforcement
- Pre-travel culture and etiquette (Korea; China; Japan)
Yoko Segerstron, a Japanese language instructor at Capital Region Language Center, designed a customized Culture & Etiquette Workshop to prepare a team from Rennsalaer Polytechnic Institute for travel to Japan as part of the University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research and Development in Semiconductors for the Future (UPWARDS for the Future).
Communication: Customized to Your Industry
Unlike cookie-cutter training companies or off-the-shelf software, our instructors work directly with employers to customize a program suited to specific industry or workplace needs.
Recent examples include:
- Effective written communication for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- Spanish classes for local healthcare providers and librarians
- Online American Sign Language during a lunch break for early childhood educators who work with non-verbal children or those with delayed speech.
- Korean language and etiquette for a local video game developer before a trip to meet new colleagues.
Wearing masks during the pandemic has caused speech delays in many young children. To improve communication, Capital Region Language Center can provide American Sign Language instruction. Done over video conference, it is designed for Head Start and preschool teachers.
Making Email A More Effective Communication Tool
Instructor Tom Nygren, who taught at University of Pennsylvania as well as Sunway University in Malaysia before joining the CRLC team, facilitates many of our workforce development workshops. These are often delivered as two, three-hour sessions, but can also be offered as a series of “lunch and learn” programs or as part of a monthly team meeting.
He frames workshops like Professional Business Writing, Mechanics & Grammar or Composition, as a “refresher.” While most professionals understand the structure of a paragraph, he likes to ask, “When is the last time you actually thought about a topic sentence?”
Tom Nygren, an English instructor at Capital Region Language Center, customizes workshops to improve employee communication.
The highly interactive sessions include a variety of exercises. They are designed to help people identify proofreading mistakes and remind them of rules on comma usage and other grammar to deliver clearer writing.
“Because so many of us are communicating via email, we also examine the structure of an email,” Nygren explains. “Similar to writing a paragraph, is your purpose clear? Have you buried the main issue you’re trying to share with your boss somewhere in paragraph four? Do you have a specific call to action you want your team to take?”
Nygren says deciding the subject line of an email is also a hot topic. Because most of us are inundated with so much email, he offers strategies to ensure an email stands out and gets addressed quickly.
Most Popular Topic in Communication Workshops
No matter who or where he’s teaching, one topic, he says, always generates the most discussion.
“The most popular section I teach is how to write more clearly and concisely,” he says. “No matter what type of workplace or employees we’re working with, participants are always eager for tips on that.”
Learn five reasons English classes help retain employees and benefit your bottom line.
Nygren says he isn’t surprised.
“The pandemic forced us to rely on more written communication, whether email, project management software, Teams or Slack,” he explains. “Remote work, especially across different time zones or countries, requires the ability to be clear and succinct to keep things moving forward. We help make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Don’t Overlook Other Benefits to Communication Training
CHART, a trade group for companies that train hospitality workers reports that in addition to improving employee and customer relations and boosting productivity, there are two more important benefits to investing in communication training that shouldn’t be overlooked:
- Enhancing innovation and creativity
- Reducing conflict and boosting morale
Nygren agrees, saying one of the biggest benefits of the workshops has nothing to do with what he’s teaching.
“The interaction with co-workers, time to meet other team members and listen to their perspectives, is really valuable. When we conduct surveys afterward, people tell us they really appreciate the opportunity to hear from their peers, understand their challenges and share tips with one another. There are definitely residual benefits, especially when we bring people together for in-person programs.”
Employees at Turnkey Workplace Services gather in the company’s showroom four nights a week to learn English.
When Nygren teaches Effective Communication Techniques, he starts with identifying the barriers to effective communication.
“These are things like poor listening, bringing your own perception bias to listening, hanging on to stereotypes, or interrupting,” he says.
He then addresses ways to improve communication, including:
- Identifying your communication style
- Recognizing non-verbal communication
- Being an active listener
- Awareness of group dynamics
- Avoiding language that may shut down participation
- Self-monitoring
- Email etiquette
Critical to Workforce Development
The way we communicate has certainly evolved in the 20 years since Capital Region Language Center first opened its doors, but founder and director Kim Andersen says the importance of cultivating communication skills has only become more valuable.
“Whether a hospital is looking to improve patient communication in the ER or an insurance company is looking for stronger phone skills in its call center, they know we will listen to their pain points, ask questions and then work with them to deliver training tailored to their goals,” she explains.
Some of the organizations that have partnered with CRLC include:
“We launched Capital Region Language Center to fill a need in our community for world language instruction,” Andersen explains. “However, we recognize that delivering on-site and on-line training that engages teams and improves workplace communication is equally critical in strengthening our workforce, economy and community. Effective communication training is workforce development.”
Learn more about our Business Services or contact us to discuss a specific workshop listed above.
We can work with you to customize training to solve your organization’s communication challenges, whether one-on-one, in small groups or with an entire team.